The present invention is directed to a means of securing a horizontal rail or the like to a vertical upright and in particular, is directed to the field of fencing but easily adapted to scaffolding, shelving or the like. Within the field of fencing, the invention may be adapted to either rail or chainlink fencing but could equally well be utilized in any fencing requiring metal uprights and rails. The cost of fencing an area, like the cost of many other things, has greatly increased. Although a portion of the increase must certainly be attributed to the increased cost of materials, without a doubt the major increase is because of the increased cost of labor and the compounding factor of the decreasing efficiency of those people hired to do laboring tasks. There must, of necessity, be a rigid connection between the upright and the rail in a fence, fence framework or shelf support. The connections in the past have been made by welding, nuts and bolts, threaded connectors or other fasteners. These fastening means, while resulting in an adequate structure, require both a greater degree of precision in the relative placement of the elements and a substantial amount of time for effecting the interconnection.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an interconnection between the upright and a rail for a fence system or the like wherein the rail may be quickly and easily installed and yet will be rigid, accurately and permanently positioned.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an interconnection between an upright post and a rail wherein the means for interconnection may be fabricated in a factory using mass production techniques and wherein the actual installation requires a minimum amount of time.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an interconnection between an upright and a rail wherein the interconnection is readily adaptable to different size uprights and/or different size rails without a corresponding change in the installation process.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interconnection between an upright and a rail wherein the interconnection is rigid and secure without the requirement of sophisticated tools or elaborate structure.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a means for interconnecting a rail to an upright wherein the size of the rail may be changed without requiring a corresponding change in the interconnecting means.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an interconnection between an upright and a rail wherein the rail may be quickly and easily placed securely in position and will remain in position during further fabrication even prior to final securement.